Shells to be fired by artillery, for example shipborne guns, are stored in containers of generally tubular form stacked in ammunition chambers of the ship. Each tubular container has a closure lid adjacent the cartridge case end of the shell permitting withdrawal of the shell in axial direction. Since the shell is supported inside the container by a centering ring surrounding the cartridge case and by centering means adapted to the contour of the shell ogive, the shell cannot be radially jarred in the container to facilitate its withdrawal, and sometimes considerable pulling forces must act upon the shell for its withdrawal because wedging occurs at the ogive support, wedging being emphasized by the relatively small conus apex angle of the ogive where it is supported.
It has been tried to facilitate withdrawal of the shell by coating the ogive support with low-friction materials, as nylon, or by provision of a felt cover on the support, but neither proposition has really remedied the drawback explained above.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provive a shell container of the type defined above but designed such that no jamming of the shell ogive in the housing is possible any more regardless of the material used for the ogive support.